AZI Volume 1 Chapter 10

"In the frontlines, I'd ask all those who I'd be entrusting my back to—to tell me what your Relics are, but if you don't want to right now that's fine as well. Just know that coordination might become an issue during battle."

"So, it's a choice?"

"…"

Contrary to Yu Ji and Qing Yue, who both seem willing to talk about the matter, Long Hua is a bit more on the reluctant side.

A Relic is unique to each Sinner despite how they can all fall into certain categories.

For his tasks that are assigned to him by NPI, he tends to only use his Relic when he knows for certain that the person he is fighting against won't live to talk about it.

"Long Hua?"

"…Apologies. Mine…"

Seeing the difficult expression on Long Hua's face, Li Xue shrugs her shoulders.

"If you don't want to that's fine. I've heard that those whose Relic are fused with their body tend to raise their Hazard Levels faster."

"Appreciate your understanding."

Having excused himself from sharing his Relic, the two senior Sinners turned to Yu Ji and Qing Yue.

"Mine is just a bow that is coupled with a quiver that can generate arrows of various elements."

Having said that, Yu Ji didn't seem interested in elaborating further, and it was easy enough to understand.

"Mine is… I call it a Summoning Pouch."

"Hm?"

"What does it do?"

"I often summon Bái Hǔ from it."

"White Tiger as in one of the Four Auspicious Beasts of eastern myths?"

"Not sure if it is one of them. Other than that, there's also a swarm of crows and a calabash gourd."

"A gourd? Can I get drinks out of it?"

"It fires a blast of energy and vanishes right after. There's one more, but that last one doesn't appear often."

"…Reminds me of a gacha and speaking of gacha…"

Sliding his phone onto the center of the table, Ye Chen smiles.

Displayed on the screen is a mobile game targeted at a male audience titled "Valkyrie Rhapsody."

"Luck is one of the greatest attributes a soldier can have."

"So, you want to see our luck by having us pull units in this game?"

"Ten pulls each. My best one was one SSR, three SRs, six Rs. I have all the SR and R units, still missing six of the SSRs."

"Second-in-command, you've done this as well?"

"Just call me Li Xue or vice-captain. My best pulls were four SRs, six Rs."

"Wait a minute, doesn't this game have a notoriously bad rate along with no pity?"

"Exactly, so being able to draw even just one SR is considered decent. Just think of it as another icebreaker to get to know each other better."

"Doesn't that mean not pulling a single SR…"

"It's fine. Most of the R units are usable in the right teams."

Saying this, Ye Chen slides the phone over to Qing Yue.

Wanting to get it over with quickly, Qing Yue presses the ten-pull icon and skips the animations resulting in—

"Three SRs. Not bad."

"Let's see…"

Moving his arm over, Yu Ji goes second and similarly to Qing Yue, he also skips the animation resulting in—

"Two SRs."

"This pattern…"

As Ye Chen slides the phone over to Long Hua, Li Xue feels like he's bound to pull just a single SR.

"…"

Looking at the phone for a few seconds, Long Hua dispassionately presses the ten-pull icon. Unlike the previous two, he didn't bother to skip the animations and the first item to pop up is—

"Oh gold!"

"Wait…"

"Two gold!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

Continuously golden lights went off, and with each flash, the quieter the air seems to become.

"…"

Picking up his phone, Ye Chen looks at the screen in silence.

Six of these pulled units had "new" tagged onto their icons, and upon exiting the screen, the achievement reserved exclusively for those who have completed the in-game character collection library appears.

"Please, pull for me at every new banner from now on."

Without any hesitation, Ye Chen lowers his head to Long Hua. God only knows how much he had spent on this game for his eyes to be wet with tears at this time.

"If I feel like it."

"Know some shame, you're an adult for crying out loud."

Slapping Ye Chen on the back of his head, Li Xue moves the conversation along by introducing her and Ye Chen's Relics—along with some things to look out for when dealing with both rogue Sinners and Immortals.

The two talked about their combat experiences against Immortals on the frontlines in great detail, while the three newly commissioned lieutenants listened attentively without disrupting.

No one would be idiotic enough to gamble with their life—unless it is absolutely necessary, so learning what they can outside of combat is always ideal.

Immortals are divided by levels with the highest recorded level being level six.

Levels one to two can be dealt with single-handedly with enough experience.

Level three may require an extra set of helping hands.

Level four and five requires a squad or more.

"How many is needed to kill a level six?"

"Over 200 Sinners."

"…"

Hearing this answer from Li Xue, Yu Ji turns silent, whereas Qing Yue draws in a breath of cold air.

"Quite an explosive increase."

"Only one has appeared so far during the course of this war and he appeared 50 years ago."

"50 years ago? Still quite recent."

"There's a few survivors that you can ask for more details from. In any case, let's not talk about something so depressing."

...…

Time passes rather quickly as the office's closing hour approaches, and it was also then that—

"Hm?"

Picking up his phone, Yu Ji widens his eyes in pleasant surprise.

"I'll be right there."

"Something came up?"

"Guild work. My money issues might be alleviated for three months if this goes well."

"Only alleviated?"

With a difficult expression on his face, Yu Ji nods to Ye Chen before heading out, but on the way out, the door is knocked over once more, prompting him to fix it.

"Ah if your Guilds got any work related to Immortals and rogue Sinners, we can take them as a squad."

"Got it."

With the door fixed, Yu Ji leaves for good.

"…About time I went to my part-time job."

Gulping down a short glass of water, Long Hua also heads for the door.

"Where do you work?"

"A classic café in the third ward."

"Heh? Sounds nice."

"I also have to go now."

"Take care."

With Qing Yue gone as well, only Ye Chen and Li Xue are left in the office.

"So, what do you think of those three?"

Setting her cup down, Li Xue looks to Ye Chen.

"Shouldn't you know their backgrounds better than me?"

"Yu Ji, a member of Dainsfield and is often called in to act as a sniper. He's an assassin, who specializes in killing targets from afar. Qing Yue, a member of Rime Tech. Her situation is… A bit too complicated to explain. You should read the files yourself."

"I suppose, I will. And Long Hua?"

"Nian Pharmaceuticals Inc."

"A pharmaceutical company?"

"Other than this company's name, I couldn't dig anything else up. Keep in mind, I even went through the effort of using my rank as a Major in the military to do the searches."

"Don't they have a lab—that also serves as a hospital—in the fifth ward?"

"Yeah, and with good reviews, but other than that there's not much else."

"If your military rank can't dig anything up, then I doubt mine would either. So, anything else outside of his Guild?"

"He arrived in GC012 five years ago. That's everything that I managed to gather."

As silence looms in the air for a brief moment, Ye Chen exhales a sigh.

"Those that don't have much information on them, either have nothing to hide or… Their records are purposefully hidden and kept away from prying eyes."

"You seem to be having fun, Colonel Chen."

Despite each member of his squad possessing a questionable background, Ye Chen is maintaining a smile.

"Heh, why wouldn't I be? This squad's got character, I like it. I've got a vice commander—who is waiting to off me whenever, a cute girl who looks like a middle schooler, an androgynous assassin who has money issues, and a kid who may as well be RNGesus incarnated. This is just the best, so glad I stayed on the frontlines for another year, otherwise I'd be leading a different squad right now."